The Prejudice towards Blacks in the 16th and 17th Century America

Abstract

Historians believe that societal or implicit racism appeared very early, as a consequence of pre-existing European attitude towards blacks. Economic Necessities in America which called for some sort of controlled labor made Africans slaves. By 1640 it was clear that English Settlers kept Negroes as hereditary slaves for life. When English confronted with Africans, they did not realize that Africans were potentially subjects for a special kind of obedience and subordination which was to arise as adventurous Englishmen sought to possess for themselves and their children one of the most bountiful
territories of the earth. In England the concept of blackness was full with intense meaning. Englishmen found in the idea of blackness a way of expressing some of their ingrained values.